I could never figure out what they were saying in the “round yon virgin” part of “Silent Night” and I hadn’t ever seen the words in print. When we had to sing it for a school program I usually faked my way through it and said something like “run yum version”. I was too embarrassed to admit that I didn’t know this part of the song.
When I was young I had an entirely different concept of “gay apparel.”
I always heard it as Don Wienaur Gay Apparel, which sounds like an upscale haberdashery.
Also;
Frosty the snow man, knew the sun was hot that day
So he said, “Let’s dance and have some fun now before I melt away”
Down through the village, with a boomstick in his hand
Runnin’ here and there all around the square
Saying “Catch me if you can”
I heard it that way for years. I can’t unhear it.
The three kings were from Oregon, I believe.
My personal favorite church song mondegreen is “Lead on, O Kinky Turtle” (and of course the eponymous one bears mention). For Christmas songs, it’s probably letting the earth’s receiver ring because the Lord has gum.
I was wondering what was already out there on the web for Christmas songs in particular.
Here are a handful from a Snopes link:
I thought is was “Don Wienaur gave a parrow”. Never mind that I had no idea was “parrow” was.
I also thought it was “round, young virgin” as someone posted above.
I once knew a young woman who admitted to me that for a long time as a child she thought a “virgin” was a street corner, that " 'round yon virgin, Mother and Child…" referred to the two of them hanging out on a street corner.
You know those sticky plastic silhouettes that you put on your windows to make a christmas scene? Snowflakes, mangers, trees, or whatever? When I was 4, I thought there was a song about a person viewing such a display:
In the lane, snow is glistenin’
A beautiful sight, we’re happy tonight,
Walking in a window one daaaay!
I’m pretty sure this is one of my father’s fondest memories of my childhood, as he reminds me of it every year. But in high school, I came across Keats’ Ode on a Grecian Urn and realized my version isn’t as silly as it seems.
Silent night, poley night
As in the north pole. Makes perfect sense.
“Oh tiny bomb, oh tiny bomb…”